Why does Qantas lie?

[jbman]

All of these comments ring true in this book

https://www.amazon.com.au/Chairmans-Lounge-inside-story-Qantas/dp/1761429760

 

[Dvg]

All of these comments ring true in this book

https://www.amazon.com.au/Chairmans-Lounge-inside-story-Qantas/dp/1761429760

Where is Joe when we need him…..

 

[SYD]

Where is Joe when we need him…..

Pretty sure he’s NOT in the CL.

 

[Dvg]

Pretty sure he’s NOT in the CL.

 

[The man with no name]

I”m afraid that is spurious outdated comment.

And your suggestion is ???

 

[The man with no name]

I come here to find tips and advice (current and recent) on my current and planned trips, not what happened five years ago that obviously does not apply now. Maybe a thread for reminiscing on the bad old days…. Oh wait we have lots

You do you.

Please don’t tell others what is or is not ok to post.

 

[The man with no name]

So downgraded SYD MEL. And then free upgrade to J on SYD-LHR? Yes please. Where do I sign up to that!

Need to be realistic. 75% is the same as EU261 IIRC

It was MEL - BNE.

What is your suggestion for reasonable compensation for losing a minimum of $500 on this flight?

How about if the downgrade was MEL - LAX?

Nobody signs up for a downgrade.

 

[Mwenenzi]

It was MEL - BNE.
What is your suggestion for reasonable compensation for losing a minimum of $500 on this flight?
How about if the downgrade was MEL - LAX?
Nobody signs up for a downgrade.

The published QF policy of 75%. Which is the same as EU261. Or another flight before or after.
While AU sadly does not have passenger rights laws EU261 is a guide.

Where did you lose $500?

 

[The man with no name]

Read

The published QF policy of 75%. Which is the same as EU261. Or another flight before or after.
While AU sadly does not have passenger rights laws EU261 is a guide.

Where did you lose $500?

Read my original post. There was no loss of $500.

I guess my point is that if I purchase a Porsche Cayenne and the dealer delivers me a cheap Kia, should I accept his offer of compensation?

They both get you from point A to be perfectly well after all.

 

[Quickstatus]

not previous non current practices as a part of an ongoing grudgefest passing misinformation

History is very important - if the airline (or anyone else) does not learn from history, it is liable to repeat the same mistakes again.
Time will tell if QF has learnt from previous mistakes - as the CEO says it will. Some of these mistakes has cost the airline hundreds of millions in fines.

 

[MEL_Traveller]

History is very important - if the airline (or anyone else) does not learn from history, it is liable to repeat the same mistakes again.
Time will tell if QF has learnt from previous mistakes - as the CEO says it will. Some of these mistakes has cost the airline hundreds of millions in fines.

Agree. But in this case the policy of a 75% refund for a downgrade or in-op seat has been established.

Continuing to state you only get a refund of the difference between business class and full fare walk-up economy is incorrect.

And it’s not arming future passengers with the best information if they find themselves in the same situation.

 

[AuSammy]

History is very important - if the airline (or anyone else) does not learn from history, it is liable to repeat the same mistakes again.
Time will tell if QF has learnt from previous mistakes - as the CEO says it will. Some of these mistakes has cost the airline hundreds of millions in fines.

The poster is perfectly entitled to post their experiences on past problems and to post opinion on whether they consider the current compensation adequate or not.

What is not appropriate is to continue to mislead readers on what is the current practice and compensation available to inconvenienced travellers.

 

[Kelstarama]

Last year my wife and and were flying Business from BNE to JNB via SYD. The night before, Qantas rang and told me that I would have to take a downgrade to Y else I wouldn't be able to fly. I asked why and all she could keep saying was that it was a busy flight. I had had my seet allocation for several months. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, she kept saying that they would give me the same answer. I told them that this was not satisfacotry and that I demanded to speak to the superisor she then put me on hold for a minute and said that they weren't available and that they would ring me back that night. They didn't. I had a very bad night's sleep, not knowing if I was going to have a seat or not. Thankfully when I checked in, I had my original J seat.
When I came back I complained to Qantas, who couldn't give an explanation and didn't seem to care that much.
In retrospect, it was somewhat bemusing as I am Platinum and my wife is Silver, but there was no mention of moving her!

In 2024, I flew JNB-SYD-BNE in PE. On check in at JNB, I was told that I had been moved from my requested seat due to it having a fault. That didn't bother me until I boarded and discovered that the new seat I had been allocated barely reclined, the overhead light couldn't be turned off, and the IFE didn't work. My original seat just two rows in front of me appeared perfectly fine.
The crew did what they could to help me, but they made some very odd comment about me being moved to the dodgy seat because I'm staff. I've never worked for Qantas, or any other airline

 

[Vic]

You nailed it, this kind of thing was common circa 2022. The site was basically Qantas rant threads wall to wall.

Some haven’t moved on.

Way longer than circa 2022... talk about ignoring the past. The old refund policy where you got the difference between paid fare (booked months before) and the economy fare available on the day of the downgrade was in place from 2010 until at least 2022 (based on your post).

How about the knowledge bank tell us when the 75% refund thing come in? What date?

As for the risk of misinforming readers, there is zero chance, a little pose has piled on in thread to provide the correct, current, information. There is no chance readers at home are going to be misinformed. Not sure why you lot need to keep going on about it having provided the correct info, it's almost like a gludgefest.

People can post whatever they like (within the site rules), nobody is limiting their free speech.

Equally other members can reply as they like and state their disagreement or call out factually incorrect information (ironic for a thread accusing the airline of lying).

Are you conflating the lie about the seat being damage and the OP having incorrect information about the compensation policy?

two pages and the same people, having providing the correct info about the compensation policy, are still riding around on their high horse.
Put the soapbox away, we've heard you. Well done, you won the internet this week.

 

[Mwenenzi]

<snip>
How about the knowledge bank tell us when the 75% refund thing come in? What date?
<snip>

I first noticed it on 17 Oct 2025. I DM'd Mattg asking if he was aware of it. He was not. Generally AFF team keep more up to date on QF policies than us.

I haven't seen this on AFF - please feel free to post it.

The 75% thing seems to be new, I haven't seen this before and it definitely wasn't there when I last looked at Qantas' involuntary downgrade policy two years ago. I wonder if it also applies to Classic Reward bookings (doubtful).

 

[SYD]

I first noticed it on 17 Oct 2025. I DM'd Mattg asking if he was aware of it. He was not. Generally AFF team keep more up to date on QF policies than us.

We received the 75% and a $400 “care” voucher mentioned up thread in Aug 2025.

 

[Quickstatus]

What is not appropriate is to continue to mislead readers on what is the current practice and compensation available to inconvenienced travellers.

My comment was more general - that in the eyes of many travellers, Qantas still has a reputational hill to climb.